Countering fashion sourcing geopolitics with death of US free trade deals
30-10-2023
COUNTERING FASHION SOURCING GEOPOLITICS WITH DEATH OF US FREE TRADE DEALS
There's no 'silver bullet' for fashion sourcing executives but sourcing from a geopolitical lens is more important than ever given the US is no longer leading on free trade deals.
It was the first time in 23
years the event was hosted in the US and arguably it couldn’t have happened at
a more crucial time given the US is on the brink of an election. Plus, the rest
of the world is eagerly waiting to see if US trade deals such as AGOA and Haiti/Hope will be renewed, how its crackdown on forced
labour will shape the sector moving forward and how it can catch up with EU laws on due diligence and extended
producer responsibility.
Ex-Tapestry’s Tom Glaser gave
an incredibly straight-talking keynote speech during the event. He’s recently
retired from the fashion sourcing world and no longer has any official
affiliations so he was able to give his personal yet expert viewpoint on how a
US fashion sourcing executive should be developing a sourcing strategy as we
approach 2024.
He shared there’s tension
between order and chaos right now, which we all know just by watching the daily
news, however he hinted the conflict in Israel and Gaza could lead to a Cold
War II so it’s impact can not go ignored.
He pointed out the Biden
administration, similar to Trump beforehand, takes no interest in trade deals
and stated: “There may be one bipartisan issue that Trump and Biden agree on –
not being favourable to trade”.
He submitted United States
Trade Representative Katherine is the same as she refers to putting the US back
into the United States Trade Representative but he questions where the ‘T’ for
trade has gone?
The US is beginning to
contract and move back to isolationism, which is deemed a “very scary
situation” and given there’s a US election in November 2024 it’s equally scary
that only a tiny proportion of the population believe either Biden or Trump
should run the country.
There’s no “silver bullet” he
can give to fashion sourcing executives but he defends globalisation is not
dead.
Inflation will be here for a
while and conflicts are an uneasy piece of the sourcing puzzle. Plus, climate
change will impact a lot of what has been the norm for many years.
The biggest shift is thinking
about long term value, agility and regionalisation over and above short term
pricing.
In terms of sourcing countries
to watch Glaser points to Bangladesh which he stated has “done a heck of a good
job” and “still has a lot of young people with universities teaching
engineering so there’s a lot of potential there”.
For sourcing executives in the
US he believes there’s still an opportunity in CAFTA and NAFTA and for everyone
he sees more opportunity in Africa given there’s a lot of labour there, however
he claimed that Vietnam had reached its peak.
Collaboration across the
supply chain remains key and given we’re living in a world filled with conflict
now is not the time for those working within the same fashion supply chains to
go to war with one another.
By Just Style
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